Nut Kolacky Recipes

NUT FILLING FOR KOLACKY COOKIES

Steps:

• Beat the egg whites and add the ground walnuts and white sugar. Mix well. Place about 1 teaspoon of filling on each square.

HUNGARIAN WALNUT COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and cream cheese until blended. Gradually beat flour into creamed mixture. Divide dough into 3 portions. Shape each into a disk. Wrap and refrigerate 1 hour or until firm enough to roll., Preheat oven to 375°. For filling, in a small bowl, beat egg whites and vanilla on medium speed until foamy. Gradually add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating on medium after each addition until well blended. Stir in walnuts., Generously coat a work surface with confectioners' sugar. Roll 1 portion of dough into a 12-in. square about 1/8 in. thick, sprinkling with additional confectioners' sugar as necessary to coat well. Cut into sixteen 3-in. squares., Shape 2 teaspoons filling into a small log about 2 in. long. Place diagonally onto a square. Overlap opposite corners of dough over filling; pinch tightly to seal. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Repeat with remaining dough and filling., Bake until bottoms are golden brown, 9-11 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely. Dust with confectioners' sugar., To Make Ahead: Dough can be made 2 days in advance. Wrap and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. , Freeze option: Freeze cookies in freezer containers. To use, thaw before serving. If desired, dust with additional confectioners' sugar.

CREAM CHEESE KOLACKY

Steps:

• Mix cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add flour slowly until well blended. Shape into a ball and chill overnight or for several hours.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
• Roll dough out 1/8 inch thick on a floured pastry board. Cut into 2 1/2 inch squares and place about 1/2 teaspoon jam or preserves in the center. Overlap opposite corners and pinch together. Place on ungreased cookie sheets.
• Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool on wire racks. Sprinkle kolacky lightly with confectioner's sugar.

NUT KOLACKY

Steps:

• Mix walnuts and graham cracker squares in food processor until texture is fine crumbs.
• Add 1/4-1/2 cup sugar.
• Add egg whites (foamy, not stiff) to nut mixture.
• Add honey to mixture, and refrigerate until ready to use.
• In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water.
• In a large bowl, combine flour and salt, cut in butter until crumbly.
• Stir in yeast, eggs, and whipping cream.
• Turn dough onto lightly floured surface, knead until smooth, about 2-3 minutes- place in a greased bowl, turn greased side up.
• Cover, refrigerate until firm- 6 hours or overnight.
• Heat oven to 375 degrees, roll out dough, on sugared or floured surface to 1/8 inch thickness.
• Cut into 2 1/2 inch squares.
• Spoon 1 tsp.
• of nut filling in center of each square.
• Bring two opposite corners to center, pinch to seal.
• Wet fingertips with a little bit of water.
• Fold sealed tip to one side, pinch to seal.
• Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
• Bake 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned.

KOLACHKY COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl blend margarine and cream cheese together, by hand with a metal spoon. Slowly add flour until it is all incorporated and a dough is formed. The dough will be soft and sticky. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put in refrigerator overnight, or for several hours (until hard to the touch).
• Flour the countertop. Take a handful of dough out of bowl returning the unused portion to the refrigerator (continue this process until all mixture is used). Roll handful of dough out into an approximately 1/4-inch thickness. Take a 2 by 3-inch diamond shaped cookie cutter, and cut as many diamonds as possible (size of kolachky should be two bites, so the cutter cannot be large). Take leftover dough and roll out again, cutting more diamonds. Repeat until all the dough is used.
• Place the diamond cut out onto the palm of hand. Put a 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of fruit filling (apricot or strawberry or raspberry or prune flavors) into the center of the diamond shape.
• Dip your finger in a little bit of water, put on one side of diamond. Fold lengthwise and seal the tops of the kolachky together to create a 3-dimensional diamond shape. Place on cookie sheets and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 to12 minutes.
• DO NOT USE Super heat cookie sheets or any of the new non-stick coated cookie sheets. They will bake too quickly and burn the bottoms of the kolachky before you realize it. YOU MUST USE ANY KIND OF CHEAP COOKIE SHEETS usually bought at a grocery store. Cover the cookie sheet with foil or parchment paper. Do not grease the foil.
• Look at your kolachky every few minutes, while baking, as ovens vary in heat distribution. The later batches may cook faster than the first ones. Check the BOTTOMS of the kolachkys. They are done when the BOTTOMS are soft golden brown. The tops may not look done, but they ARE! Remove from oven, wait 3 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack. When ready to serve, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

KOLACKY

Steps:

• Mix softened cream cheese, softened butter, baking powder, and egg yolks with a pastry blender.
• Mix in sour cream and sift in flour.
• Add vanilla and knead the dough until your hands are clean (i.e. it all sticks together and is a uniform mixture).
• Roll into 1/4 cup balls and refrigerate overnight (~8 hrs).
• Prepare the filling (if store-bought, skip this step). Beat the egg white until it is foamy. Mix with crushed walnuts, melted butter, sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon. Store in the refrigerator.
• Preheat the oven to 350.
• Roll dough flat, using flour to prevent sticking to surface and rolling pin. Only remove what dough from the refrigerator that you are currently rolling (leave the rest of the dough balls in the fridge to keep firm).
• Use a square-shaped cookie cutter to cut squares out of the dough. Place a little filling in the middle of the square. Then pinch 2 opposite corners together. Fold this over and pinch again. (This step is a bit of a personal preference, there are many different ways to shape and fill kolacky).
• Bake 9-12 minutes on a non-stick pan, or until light brown.

HUNGARIAN KOLACHE (NUT ROLL)

Steps:

• Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Wait until it is activated before adding to dry ingredients.
• Mix together the flour sugar and salt.
• Stir in eggs, melted butter, sour cream and dissolved yeast.
• Mix well.
• Let dough rest for 10 minutes, covered with a mixing bowl with some flour underneath to prevent dough from sticking.
• Divide into 4 egual parts.
• Roll out separately onto a floured board into a 14 x 12 rectangle.
• Spread with 1/4 of nut mixture and cover dough to within one inch from the edge.
• Begin to roll up jelly roll fashion from the 12 inch side.
• Seal edge.Tuck ends under Put seam side down on cookie sheet covered with parchment paper.
• Cover with clean cloth.
• Continue to roll and fill dough covering each with cloth.
• Let rise for one hour or until double in bulk.
• You can place 2 rolls on one cookie sheet.
• Bake at 325 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes or until lightly browned.
• Transfer to a wire rack and cool.
• Can be frozen.